HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
SURNAMES BEGINNING WITH "F"
FEEDLER, FIRDNAN, manager of Upson Coal Company's store, Shawnee, Ohio; was born February 8, 1850, in Somerset, Ohio; son of Jacob and Elizabeth (Lentz) Feedler. When Firdnan was two years of age, his father moved to Cardington, Morrow county, Ohio, where he was brought up, and clerked in a dry goods store five years, for W. Shunk & Co.; and at Delaware, Ohio, clerked for Z. L. White two years. He returned to Cardington, and entered into partnership with his twin brother in the grocery business, remaining two years, when he sold his interest and went to Richwood. and clerked for J. Cratty & Co., in dry goods store, about two years, when he moved with the same firm to Ashland, Ohio, where they remained about eight months and then moved to Shawnee. Mr. Feedler remained with this firm in all about three years, when he went in partnership with his brother, under the firm name of Feedler Brothers. They went into general merchandise business, which they continued about eighteen months, when the firm was dissolved, his brother going home and dying within about one month. Mr. Feedler then engaged as clerk for E. M. McGilen & Co., Cleveland, Ohio, where he remained two years and one month, and then returned to Shawnee, Ohio, April 1st, 1881, and took his present position. He was married November 28, 1876, to Aldia, daughter of Simeon F. Kern of Burbank, Wayne county, Ohio. They are the parents of two children, viz.: Geo. Rodney and Carrie Belle, deceased.400
FERGUSON, JOHN, of the firm of Ferguson & Noon, Attorneys at Law, New Lexington, Ohio; was born February 3, 1846, in Jackson township; son of Terence and Bridget (Nangle) Ferguson. At the age of nineteen, young Ferguson began teaching school, and taught about six years. In 1868 he began reading law with Colonel Lyman J. Jackson of this place, and was admitted to practice in August, 1871. After practicing alone a short time, he formed a partnership with his preceptor, which continued until the fall of 1877. In 1878 the present firm was formed. Attorney Ferguson was married April 6th, 1875, to Miss Lizzie, daughter of David and Susan (Gordon) Hewitt, of Somerset, this county. They are the parents of three children: Zuleme, Charles and Genevieve. FERGUSON, ARTHUR B., shoemaker, Shawnee, Ohio; was born March 28th, 1846 in Scotland, county of Lanark, in Lanarkhall; son of John and Elizabeth (Browning) Ferguson. Mr. Ferguson was raised in his native town, where he lived to the age of twenty years, during which time he learned his trade with his father, and is the fifth generation of his family who has successfully followed that business. From the age of seventeen years, he worked at journey work, which he contined about two years, when he employed on the railroad as brakeman, and where he had his leg mashed, which left him a permanent cripple, having followed the railroad about one year at the time of the accident. After his recovery he again found employment at his trade for about two years, in the counties of Ayr, Renfrew and Lanark. At this time he emigrated to America, arriving at New York, January 21, 1867, and from thence he went to Maryland, Alleghany county, where he was employed at his trade and mining, for about two years, when he returned to the place of his nativity, remaining during the winter of 1868 and 1860, when he again returned to America, landing in New York, April 23, 1869, and again went to Maryland, to Illinois and Pennsylvania, remaining about six months in each of these States, when he spent another summer in Maryland, from whence he went to the Hocking valley of Ohio, and remained about six months, when he was married, January 24, 1872, to Amanda L., daughter of James and Martha (Zarlie) LeFollet, of Vinton county, Ohio, but lived in Athens county at the time of her marriage. They are the parents of three children, viz.: John LeFollet, Maud Agnes and Archibald Boyd, and one deceased, Arthur Morton. After his marriage he lived in the Hocking valley about five years, when he came to Shawnee, Ohio, where he has since lived, and engaged in mining until about four years ago, when he was obliged to quit mining on account of his health. Since then he has been weighmaster at the New York furnace. Mr. Ferguson was corporation clerk for two years, and for the past six years has been township clerk; and in the spring of 1882, was elected Mayor of this place. FINK, JOEL A., farmer, Jackson township; post office, Junction City: son of Joseph and Magdalene (Dittoe) Fink; was born August 17, 1816, in this township; has since lived in the county, and always led a farmer's life from boyhood. He was married in 1840, to Miss Margaret, daughter of Thomas and Margaret (Doran) Ryan. They are the parents of five children, viz.: Joseph, Sarah, Mary, William401
and Charles. His parents were of German descent. Mr. Fink's father came to Somerset in 1805, His grandfather, John Fink, assisted in laying out the town of Somerset. FINCK, WILLIAM E., lawyer, Somerset; was born in Somerset, in the year 1822. His father was Anthony Finck, and his mother's maiden name was Mary Spurk. His grandfather was John Finck, an early settler, if not the first, in Somerset. His wife was Cecelia Garaghty of Lancaster, Ohio. Their sons are, William E., Jr., and Michael G. Finck; the latter a grocer and the former a lawyer. Their daughters are Mary, now wife of F. A. Dittoe, merchant of Somerset, and Miss Martha. Mr. Finck is of French-German extraction. He studied law and was admitted to practice in Somerset when only twenty-one years of age. His first position was that of Clerk of the Perry County Common Pleas and Supreme Courts, under the old Constitution. In his twenty-eighth year he was the Whig candidate for Congress, in a district counting six hundred Democratic majority, and was defeated by only forty-six votes, by Hon. James M. Gaylord of McConnelsville. He was elected to the Senate of Ohio in 1851, and in 1852 was a delegate to the National Convention which nominated General Winfield Scott for the Presidency; was an elector on the Scott ticket in Ohio; joined the Democratic party in 1854, when Know-Nothingism swept the Whig party out of being; was elected to the Senate of Ohio in 1861, defeating the Hon. T. J. Maginnis of Zanesville in a hotly contested canvass; was elected to Congress in 1862, defeating the Hon. C. A. Trimble of Chillicothe; was re-elected to Congress in 1864, defeating the Hon. Job E. Stephenson of Chillicothe; was again elected to Congress to fill the unexpired term of Hon. Hugh J. Jewett of Columbus. He has twice been a candidate upon the Democratic State, ticket, once for Attorney General, and once for Supreme Judge. He has repeatedly refused a candidacy for Common Pleas Judge, preferring his law practice, which has secured for him a large amount of lands in Missouri and Iowa, a handsome property in and around Somerset, several farms in Perry, and though he cannot be engaged at the usual fee of young attorneys, his practice is still very remunerative and engages all his time. No man was ever more systematic in keeping his accounts, truer to the faith which he professes to believe, or more honest toward his fellow men. FINCK, JUDGE JAMES E., carpenter and builder; post office, Somerset. He was born in 1825; son of John, Jr., and grandson of John, Sr., who was the first of the Finck name in Perry county, and who cut much of the road for his wagon from Zanesville to Lancaster, and who a year later came back to where Somerset now stands, which town he laid out into lots and built a hotel where the public schools are now located, on the hill above the east railroad depot. Judge Finck's father was eighteen years of age when his grandfather, John, came to Ohio. His mother was Elizabeth Walker, a native of Maryland. She was born in the year 1800, and lived into her seventy-second year. Her children were Mary, deceased; Cecelia, wife of Edward Droege; and Sarah, wife of William Blakeney; Amanda, wife of Joseph Kircher; Miss Emily, and James E., all of whom have Somerset, Ohio, as their post office address; also William, carbuilder, Zanesville, Ohio;402
Jacob, deceased, and Miles, engaged in mercantile life in Cincinnati. James was married in 1847, to Miss Catharine Foncannon, and on the same day his cousin, Hon. W. E. Fink was also married; neither knowing of the other's intention. Her father was an early settler of Perry, where he died in his seventy-eighth year. Her brothers married and went West, so that at this writing she has neither sister nor brother living in Perry. The children of this marriage are Ida, wife of Conrad Letsinger; post office, Somerset; Elva, wife of Mark Heffley, Omaha, Nebraska; Miss Blanche, Endora and Alberta; Fabian, a carpenter of Terre Haute, Indiana; Hydalius, Urban and Edgar. Judge James E. Finck ranks in general esteem as a first-class carpenter and builder. St. Joseph's, McLuney, South Fork and Holy Trinity Church edifices, stand as monuments of his skill; but the recent convent building at St. Joseph's crowns all with a taste, a beauty and elegance but seldom equaled, and rarely, if ever, excelled. He aided the building of St. Patrick's Church edifice, and is now engaged as the superintending carpenter and architect of Sacred Heart Convent, Somerset. He put up the spire of the Reform Church edifices in Thornville and Somerset, and it has not fallen to the lot of any man in Perry to build more churches, or finer ones. In the fall of 1872, he was made the Democratic nominee for Probate Judge by the popular vote against a field of candidates who ranked high in popular favor, such as Henry McLaughlin, his cousin, A. A. Fink, Peter King and Charles F. Brush, ex-Treasurer. He was afterwards twice elected, and served the customary two terms with credit to himself and the public. Since his retirement he has again devoted himself to his favorite occupation of carpentering. His rural home nestles beautifully among the coal hills of Perry; and here his garden and fruit culture occupy his leisure hours. His head measures twenty-two and one-half inches; is also high and long; his health is excellent and his disposition cheerful. Height, five feet eight inches. Weight, one hundred and seventy-five pounds. FINCK, AUSTIN A., was born in 1829 in Somerset; son of Anthony and grandson of John Finck, the grand progenitor of this family in Perry county. The sons of this ancient pioneer were Jacob, Joseph, George, Anthony, John, Adam, and David Finck; the daughters were Mrs. Sarah Johnson, Mrs. Elizabeth McDonald, Mrs. Frances Hewett, and Mrs. Mary McGowen. Austin A. was educated in Perry county and drilled in the duties of a dry goods clerk. In May, 1854, he was married to Miss Caroline Lewis, of Rushville. Their children are William B. Finck, Miss Carrie and Miss Ellie Finck. Austin A. Finck runs far ahead of his ticket for clerk of his township, which office, as also that of village clerk, he is now filling, as for a long time since, to the satisfaction of the public. His great capacity as a dry goods clerk, ripened also by experience as a merchant on his own account, has secured for him a situation in the famous store-rooms of F. A. Dittoe, Esq., of Somerset. Here his urbanity, honesty and attentiveness to customers are winning a large trade for that celebrated establishment. The store-room was built by Mr. Mike Dittoe, an architect of thirty years experience in New York City, which was presented to his brother, F. A. Dittoe, and is equal to the best in Ohio in finish and adaptation403
to its present use, and for many coming years will stand as a model of architectural taste. FINK, DAVID, farmer; post office, Somerset, Ohio. He was born in 1830. and is a son of Joseph and grandson of John Finck, the great ancestor of all the Fincks in Reading township, and who is the father of Somerset, having settled where the Union school-house of that town now stands in 1804 or 1805. His house, which served for a tavern, was the first ever erected in the town, of which John Finck and one Miller became the original proprietors. He owned the famous " Finck's Spring," now the property of his grandson, Hon. William E. Finck. No Catholic name antedates that of John Finck and his wife, whose maiden name was Mary Sneeringer. This venerable pair, with their family, were themselves numerous and devoted enough to form the nucleus of the first Catholic church not only in Perry county but in the State of Ohio. David Fink's mother was, prior to her marriage, in 1815. Miss Magdalena Dittoe, daughter of Jacob, Sr..and sister of Jacob, Jr., who deceased in Somerset in 1880. The brothers of David are Joel A., post office Junction City, Ohio; James J., post office New Lexington, Ohio; and his sisters are Sarah, wife of Thomas Largey. post office Altoona, Iowa; Elizabeth, wife of Daniel Riffle, Lancaster, Ohio. David Fink was first married in 1853 to Miss Bridget Dittoe, who died April 29th, 1856. His second marriage was to Miss Lizzie O'Brien, February, 1861, who is the mother of Emerantia, Imelda S., Margaret L., Oscar M., Mary Nora, Helen C., and Estella C. Fink. David obtained his farm by deed from his father, who died in 1870, at the age of seventy-nine years, his mother having died in 1863. This delightful homestead is in sight of St. Joseph's; contains the nearest coal vein to Somerset; is well adapted to fruit and small grain. Four hundred gallons of Iona and Concord wine, the vintage of 1881, testify its capacity for fruit growing. Like his ancestors, he is a devoted and sincere Catholic; has also served in various official stations, by the favor of his fellow citizens, and is by no means among the hindmost in the march of progress. FLANIGAN, JOHN, farmer and stock raiser, post office Rehoboth; born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, in 1820. From there he came to Wheeling, West Virginia, where he remained two years; from there he came to Perry county about the year 1824; son of Edward and Cecelia (Katon) Flanigan. The former died in 1823, the latter in 1874. Married in 1844 to Miss Rachel Beaver, daughter of George and Elizabeth (Bridge) Beaver. They have three children, viz.: Katharine S., deceased, Mary E. and Thomas E. FLAUTT, GEORGE, was born in 1799; died in 1862. His father, Joseph, and his mother, were born, reared and married in one of the Rhinish provinces of France. Grandfather Joseph Flautt and his wife came to America and settled in Canawaga county, Maryland, where all their children were born. These children were Deborah, Hannah, Jacob, Joseph and George Flautt. All lived to be over eighty. Hannah married William Mooney, who became a justice of the peace, and member of the Legislature of Maryland. Jacob was twice married. Joseph was married and one of his sons was a devoted Catholic404
priest. They all lived and died in Maryland, except George, who was twice married. His first wife was Miss Mooney, the mother of six children-William, Patrick, James, John, Mary and Nancy Flautt. Of these, William taught school, read medicine, practiced his profession forty years, and died in Hocking county, Ohio; Patrick still lives in the same county, a justice of the peace, a chair maker and painter by trade; James also was a physician for thirty years, and died in Readsburg, Sauk county, Wisconsin; John came to Ohio in 1834.; in 1836 went to Texas on horseback, served in the wars there, and in 1848 settled in Hocking County, where he married Miss Ellen White, daughter of Alexander White; was elected Sheriff of the county, served several months of his second term, when he met his death by accident of a runaway team. He was a Mason and an Odd Fellow. Mary married William Burns, and moved to Richland county, Ohio; Nancy's second husband is Isaac Koons. She lives in Maryland. Her deceased husband was John Harman, by whom she had two children. The second marriage of George Flautt was to Margaret Harbaugh. This marriage also occurred in Maryland, several years after the death of his first wife. The children of this marriage are: Ambrose, a successful merchant of Amanda, Fairfield county, Ohio; Juliana, deceased, wife of Edward Kelly, a stone mason of Somerset, leaving two children; Joseph, a cooper, a farmer, a clerk of the township, and assessor. He was also trustee of the township for some years. His wife was Mary McDonald. They have had ten children, four daughters and six sons. Three of the daughters are married. The next son of George Flautt is Henry, a man of sterling judgment as a farmer. He married Catharine Sanderson, and they have seven children. Sebastian is a cooper and farmer, and lives on the Flautt homestead, in Reading township. He married Ellen Mooter, and they have two children. Jerome Flautt, like his father, learned the cooper trade and the gunsmithing trade. He was successively elected clerk of the town for some years. He writes an excellent hand, and takes much delight in rearing the best fruits and poultry. He spent nearly two years near Mobile, Alabama, experimenting in gardening early vegetables for the Northern markets. He married Sarah Freeman, and they have five children-Leta, Fanna, Kata, Ferdinand and Murray. George Flautt, the youngest son, is also a cooper, making the Flautt churn, invented by his father, and for many years past the leading churn. He has built three new houses, and for many years was clerk of the township. He married Cecelia Divit, and they have four children. Elizabeth is the wife of John McDonald, of Nelsonville, Ohio, a brick mason, and a soldier who served in the Union army with faithfulness to the end. They have six children. Margaret married L. P. Guisinger, a native of Perry, a teacher, a farmer, a plasterer, an agent, and a genius in mechanics. They have seven children. His post office is Chalfants, Perry county. FLOWERS, THOS., farmer and stock raiser, post office New Lexington, Clayton township, Perry county; born in Muskingum county in 1814.; came to Perry county in 1820; son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Ambrose) Flowers. The former died January 17, 1867, the latter in 1864. Mr. Flowers was married in 1837 to Miss Mary Daugherty. They are the parents of ten children, viz.: Elizabeth C., Rebecca S., Simon H.,405
William, deceased, John J., Anna A., George, Andrew G., Emanuel F., Charles V., two of whom are married. Mr. Flowers had two sons in the late war, viz.: William and Simon. They enlisted in Company K, One Hundred and Twenty-sixth O. V. I., Captain Lampton. They were engaged in the battle of the Wilderness, where it is supposed William lost his life, as he was never heard of afterwards. Simon was wounded in that engagement. Simon was also engaged in the following additional battles, viz.: Martinsburg, Locust Grove, Mine Run, Siege of Charleston, Winchester, Cedar Creek, Fisher's Hill, Middletown. FLOWERS, JEFFERSON, mechanic, foreman in Bent Works of Bringardner & Company, Junction City, Ohio; son of Mathias and Mary (Elder) Flowers; was born December 5, 1845, in this county, and has since lived in the county. His boyhood days were spent on a farm until he was nineteen years of age. He then went to the carpenter trade, and worked at it till 1879, then went into the bent works. He was married in 1870 to Miss Mary, daughter of Joel A. and Margaret (Ryan) Fink. They are the parents of two children, viz.: Teresea C. and Maggie L. His parents are of German and Irish descent. FORQUER, WILLIAM, Pleasant township, Moxahala post office. He was born in Butler county, Pennsylvania, October 25, 1822; son of William and Rose (Dugan) Forquer, who were both natives of Ireland. They emigrated to this country in 1795; stayed in Philadelphia about three years, and then moved to Butler county, Pennsylvania. They came to Pike township in 1823, and both died on the farm he entered there. William Forquer married Catharine Donahoe, in 1845; she is a native of this township. After his marriage he moved to the farm where he now resides. Her parents were born in Ireland, and both died in the United States. His children are George, who married Mary Bennett, and resides in this township: Peter, married Celia Bennett, and resides in this township; Mary A., married F. B. Bennett, resides in this township; Sarah, married John A. McDonagle, who is now elected Clerk of the Court of this county, and resides in New Lexington; Rose, married Thomas Bennett; she died in New Lexington; William is at home; Loretta deceased, and Loretta living. FOSTER, EMANUEL, born 1823, on the farm where he now resides. Post office, Thornville. His mother's maiden name was Maria Mechling. His father, Andrew Foster, died in his sixty-ninth year, in 1849, and Mother Foster in her sixty-ninth year in 1858. It is not certain when the Rev. William Foster, the father of Andrew, arrived with his family in Perry county, then Fairfield, but from a document signed by him in 1805, organizing Zion's church, which document is now in possession of the venerable George Daniels, it must have been prior to 1805. The wife of Rev. Foster was a Daniels, and thus the connection between the Fosters and the Daniels name in Thorn township. Grandfather Foster came to Thorn township, when the low flat lands were avoided and more rolling lands were in demand. He died in 1815, the first preacher of the Lutheran faith who settled in Perry county. The sons of Rev. William Foster were William, Daniel, Andrew, Henry, George, Christian, Samuel, Benjamin and John. The daughters were Magdalena, wife of John Walters; Mrs. John Fox, and Mrs. Jacob Mechling, of Fairfield county. Mrs. Fox's only daughter,406
that ever lived in Perry or Fairfield counties, married Peter Custer, of Fairfield county. The mother of these nine sons and three daughters was Magdalena Daniels, who died in 1823, her husband, Rev. William Foster, having preceded her to the grave some eight years before. Of these twelve children, John is the only one who never married, and he is supposed to have lost his life on a trip to New Orleans. All got from their father one hundred and sixty acres of land, and the quarter section bought for John went to the other heirs. Thus it required no less than three sections or nineteen hundred and twenty acres to reach round to all the children. To return to Andrew, the father of Emanuel Foster. Of ten children only the following grew to mature age: Jacob, deceased, whose wife was Elizabeth Holt; Joseph, deceased, whose wife was Elizabeth Sult; Mary, deceased wife of James Clifton; Elijah, of whom more hereafter; Mahala, wife of Peter W. Sprinkle, post office, Holden, Johnson county, Missouri, and Emanuel who was married to Susan E. Franks, daughter of Rezin Franks, late of Thorn township, a noted and very successful stock dealer and farmer. The children of Emanuel Foster and his wife Susan, are Benton C.; Maria Edith; William E.; Martha May, and Aaron Harlan, now eleven years of age. Mr. Foster has two farms in Thorn township and eighty acres in Van Wert county, Ohio, is a firm Democrat in politics, and Lutheran in religion, and enjoys the confidence of all for honesty and his moral worth. FOSTER, ELIJAH, born November 30, 1820, son of Andrew and brother of Emanuel Foster. In 1849 Elijah was married to Miss Jane Turner, who after bearing him one son, Charles Foster, of Pickerington, Ohio, died in May, 1852. He then went to California, and after a protracted stay of fourteen years in the mountains of California, Oregon, Idaho, Utah and Montana, prospecting as a miner and undergoing all the hardships of camp and frontier life, in 1869 returned home and was married to a Miss Katharine Anderson, daughter of Thomas Anderson, an early settler of Fairfield county who shares with him the joys and comforts of their beautiful and fruitful home in the suburbs of Thornville. There are no children by this last marriage. Mr. Foster is a benevolent, kind and generous citizen, modest, and retiring for pleasure to the precincts of home, and seeking the abodes of the needy only to gratify his exalted benevolence and humanity. He has followed the elk waist deep in snow The Gallatin valley is the warmest he saw, and it has frost high up every month in the year, and snow in sight all the time. Up toward the sources of the streams named, the whole year round the snow line is in sight. Mr. Foster is six feet one inch tall, weighs one hundred and sixty pounds, and when in California his weight ran up to one hundred and ninety pounds. There is a volume of the most thrilling adventure, instructive facts, and profitable experience in his fourteen years of mountain life as a miner, a gardener, a lumberman, and a hunter. FOSTER, JAMES, was born where he now lives in Thorn township, Perry county, in 1833, on section twenty, the homestead of his father, George Foster, and of his grandfather, Rev. William Foster, who died in 1815, and whose tomb is on the same farm. The maiden name of James Foster's mother was Christena Bean, and that of his grandmother407
was Magdalena Daniels. His brothers were Samuel, deceased, in Van Wert county, Ohio, who left two sons and three daughters; Simon, the husband of Susan Fisher; and John. deceased, leaving one son and two daughters, all of Van Wert county, Ohio. His sisters were Mary, wife of Henry Cover; Elizabeth, wife of Charles Denman; and Saloma, wife of John Avery, all of Van Wert county, Ohio. These with James are four sons and three daughters. The father of this family. George Foster, died in 1858, in his sixty-ninth year, and the mother in 1857, in her sixty-third year. The year prior to the latter event James Foster was married to Miss Diana, daughter of Henry Boyer, Jr., and granddaughter of Henry Boyer, Sr. It will be observed that he was one of seven heirs to the homestead, and after the death of his father, the law distributed the estate. It was valued in 1860 at $5,530, each share being estimated at $790, at which price James became the purchaser of the home farm, comprising one hundred and sixty acres, more or less. He not only paid for it, but has now erected a splendid dwelling house, and spacious barns, and the entire farm presents the marks of thrift and comfort. His children are six in number, five sons and one daughter, Leoh Katharine, the eldest, being the wife of Joseph Beck, post office, Thornville. The sons are all at home. Their names are Charles Allen, Henry Lee, William Edward, James Albert, and George Simon, now three years old. He and his wife are of the Lutheran faith. The first draft in 1862 took James Foster, and he paid James Richey, of Somerset, $375 to go as his substitute. It is supposed his farm was first occupied by grandfather Foster in 1803, but other recollections put it anywhere between that and 1807. James weighs one hundred and sixty-five pounds, is five feet ten inches tall. His father was six feet one inch, and weighed two hundred pounds. He was no hunter, like Uncle Ben Foster. He related the fine appearance of Kentucky soldiers who passed through northward in the war of 1812. They were all six-footers. James was administrator of his father's estate, and executor of his father-in-law's; owns two hundred acres of land, and is a living witness to the fact that farming pays, and that industry and economy win the prize. FOWLER, DAVID C., farmer and tanner, New Lexington, Ohio, was born October 18, 1822, upon the quarter section where he now lives. He is a son of John and Sarah (Brown) Fowler. Mr. Fowler was raised on a farm, and at the age of nineteen years went to the tanner's trade with John H. Stewart, of New Lexington, Ohio, remaining two years with him when he went to Baltimore city, Maryland, and finished his trade in fourteen months with William Jenkins & Sons, of No. 4 Water street. After learning his trade he returned to this place and opened a tanyard of his own, where he continued as a tanner until January, 1883; in all thirty-six years. Having sold out to John A. Armstrong, of Athens county, Ohio, he gave his entire attention to farming, and the running of a stationary steam saw-mill, which he has been running for the past thirteen years. During the above time he bought eighty- four acres of land, most of which is a part of his father's homestead, and has farmed more or .less for ten or twelve years past. In 1864 he went into the army as Captain of Co. F, One Hundred and Sixtieth Regiment, Ohio National Guards, and served four months, receiving408
an honorable discharge, and returned home in September. He also had four brothers in the service, viz.: Isaac, John W., Benjamin and William, two of whom were captains, John and Benjamin, serving in the Thirtieth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, three years' service, and were both wounded, partially disabling each of them for life. Benjamin veteranized, and was engaged in eleven battles, and was on Sherman's march to the sea. Isaac died while in the army. In all the five brothers served about twelve years in their country's defense, and their father was a soldier in the war of 1812. Mr. Fowler has, upon his father's side of the house, a great aunt, Ann Fowler, who is ninety- six years old, living in Maryland; and upon his mother's side of the house, a great uncle, Rev. Mathew Brown, of Wood county, Ohio, who is ninety-six years of age. Patriotism and longevity is seldom so marked as in the Fowler family, and their ancestors. Mary Fowler, the oldest sister of D. C. Fowler, saw her great grandmother, on her mother's side of the house, married at the age of eighty years to a man by the name of Goodin, aged eighty-one years, who after their marriage kept house ten years, when they became so feeble that in after life they lived with their children,she living to be ninety-six years old. Mr. Fowler's father, John Fowler, was born July 18, 1786, in Baltimore county, Maryland, came to Ohio in 1811, and was the first settler in Pike township. Mr. Brown became the father of twenty children by two marriages, all of whom he raised to manhood and womanhood. The oldest, Sarah Brown, was born July 17, 1796, in Hampshire county, Virginia, came to Ohio at an early day and was married to John Fowler, September 12, 1816. They became the parents of eleven children, viz.: Mary A., Susannah, Richard, David C., Eliza, Isaac, John W., Mariah, Cyrus, Benjamin, and William H., of whom David C. is the subject of this sketch. Father Fowler died in March, 1874, at the age of eighty-seven years. Mother Fowler died in March, 1863, aged sixty-seven years. Mr. Fowler, the subject of this sketch, was married March 26, 1846, to Miss Cornelia S., daughter of Vincent and Ellen (Hogland) Smith, of Washington county, Ohio. They are the parents of five children, viz.: Acta C., now Essington, living in this county; James C., Superintendent of the New Lexington Union Schools at this time; Alice C., now Kennen, of Licking county, Ohio; one daughter who died in infancy; and Lucellie, now Morgan, living in New Lexington, Ohio. Mrs. Fowler's parents came to Washington county, Ohio, from Connecticut at an early day. Mr. Fowler is now one of Perry county's oldest citizens, having been born and raised here; has enjoyed remarkably good health, and never saw a person shake with ague. FOWLER, WILLIAM H., farmer, Pike township, New Lexington, Ohio; was born February 3, 1837, in this township, son of John and Sarah (Brown) Fowler; was raised a farmer, and has followed agricultural pursuits to the present time, and made his home with his father up to the time of his death some eight years ago. He is the youngest member of the family of eleven children, and became the support of his father in his declining years. He now lives upon the first land entered by his father in 1811, and where his father died. At the time of his entry there was but little timber cut between here and the Ohio River,409
consequently he was obliged to clear out his farm of one hundred and sixty acres, by the assistance of his sons. Game of all kinds was plenty, and he traded four acres of land, a part of the present site of New Lexington, for a gun that was valued at $40. Mr. Fowler, the subject of this sketch, was married November 5, 1859, to Miss Harriet, daughter of William and Rachel (Skinner) Davis. They became the parents of two children, viz.: Albert and Cora. Mrs. Fowler departed this life in March, 1874. He was married the second time, Nov. 3, 1875, to Martha, daughter of John and Sarah (Strawn) Davis. They became the parents of one child, Wilbert Franklin. Mr. Fowler enlisted in Company G, One Hundred and Fourteenth Regiment, O. V. I., August, 1862, for three years, or during the war, and served just to the close of the war, and his term of enlistment, and was engaged in the following battles: Mobile, Alabama; Graham's Plantation; Chickasaw Bluff's, and Vicksburg. Held the office of Corporal, and also had four brothers in the army, three of whom were Captains, viz.: John, Benjamin and David, and his father served in the was of 1812. FOWLER, PROF. J. C., Superintendent of New Lexington public schools, born November 4, 1852, in this place; son of D. C. and Cornelia S. (Smith) Fowler. Young Fowler was educated in the public schools of his native town and by self culture he has become a thorough English scholar. At the age of seventeen, Professor Fowler began teaching, and has been constantly in the profession up to the present time. He took his present position in 1877. FOX GEORGE, butcher, Corning, Ohio, was born February 23, 1857, near Logan, Hocking county, Ohio, son of John G. and Catharine (Weiland) Fox. George was brought up on the farm where his father now lives. At the age of fourteen he went to the blacksmith trade and worked one year. Then he went to New Lexington, Ohio, and worked in a butcher-shop for his brother-in-law, Weiland, until 1876, when he went to Columbus and worked in a meat shop one season. He then traveled about one year, and worked in a number of places until he located at Logan, and carried on a butcher shop until March, 1881, when he came to his present place. Mr. Fox was married in March, 1880, to Margaret, daughter of Anthony and Catharine (Rectenwald) Steden. They are the parents of one child, Annie Catharine Fox. FOX, FRANK E., formerly of the firm of Huston & Fox, family groceries, New Lexington. Mr. Fox was born May 26, 1861,in Logan, Hocking county, Ohio; son of John and Catherine Fox. Young Fox came to this place in 1872, and attended school four years, then entered a grocery store as clerk, where he remained until the present firm was formed, January 21, 1880. He has since sold his interest and now does business in Corning. FRANCIS, ERASTUS F., contractor, Shawnee, Ohio, was born February 16, 1830, in Licking county, Ohio, son of William and Lavina (Boilen) Francis. Mr. Francis was brought up on a farm and followed agricultural pursuits up to 1851, at which time he went as an apprentice to learn the distiller's trade, serving, one year,and then followed the business about seven years in Peru, Miami county, Indiana. Again he returned to agricultural pursuits, in Indiana, for three years, and for410
twelve years in Licking county, Ohio, upon his brother's farm, and two years upon the Shawnee Valley Coal Company's farm in this county. After this he engaged with the Straitsville Cannel Coal Company of New York, for five years, as long as it existed, and then employed with the Ohio Central Coal Company of Corning, and has remained with them up to this time as a contractor and otherwise. Mr. Francis was married June 1, 1856, to Mary, daughter of James and Elizabeth Davis, of Miami county, Indiana. They are the parents of two children, viz.: Charles and Walter. He was married a second time, December 6, 1869, to Mariah, daughter of Courtney and Margaret Debevoise. They are the parents of seven children, viz.: Three living, Milton, Annie and William, and four dead, Hester, infant, Lovina and Edward. Mr. Francis was enlisted in Company E, One Hundred and Thirty-fifth Regiment, 0. N. G., and served in the army of the Potomac four months, and was in an engagement at John Brown's school house. Was drafted while in the service and again, soon after returned into the service and remained until the war was over, and served five years in the State service. FRANKLIN, R. H., butcher, Junction City, Ohio, was born in Carroll county, Maryland, June 16, 1836; is a son of Nathan and Susan (Demit) Franklin; lived on the farm until 1865, then went to his present business in Centerville, Carroll county, Maryland; came to Junction City in 1873, following the same business. Was married in 1857, to Miss Ann M., daughter of Joshua and Martha (Porter) Barnes. They are the parents of four sons and one daughter, viz.: Nathan G., Augustus, Catharine, Joseph Ellsworth and Joshua Edward. FREE, JOHN W., attorney, New Lexington; son of Dr. John and Catharine Free, was born in York county, Pennsylvania, August 8, 1830. His mother's maiden name was Catharine Newman. She was of English descent, and nearly related to the Newmans who were the first settlers of Richland county, Ohio. Dr. Free,the father, was of German descent, and an Evangelical (Albrecks) preacher, as well as a physician. When John W., was about one year old, the family moved to Mansfield, Ohio, and in 1841, to the neighborhood of McCutchenville, Wyandot county, in the same State. Here, for several years, he divided his time between attending school in the winter and working on the farm, and at the plastering trade in the summer. He taught school for a number of terms, commencing when only sixteen years of age. He also attended two sessions at Heidleberg College, Tiffin, Ohio. In the year 1856, he came to New Lexington, Perry county, Ohio, and engaged in the mercantile business. He was engaged in Straitsville in the same business, when, August 1, 1861, he received an order from Governor Dennison to raise a company of three years troops. The men were raised in a very few days, and August 7th, he reported to Governor Dennison with one hundred and ten men, and was commissioned Captain of Company A, Thirty-first Regiment, O. V. I. This was the first three years men enlisted in the county. February 28, 1862, Captain John W. Free was promoted to Major of the regiment. He followed the fortunes of the regiment, and was engaged in most all the important battles of the Army of the Cumberland, to which department the regiment belonged. After being mustered out of the Military411
service, December 21, 1864, Major Free resumed mercantile pursuits at New Lexington, and also read law in the office of Butler & Jackson. During the winter of 1867-68, he attended a course of lectures at the Cincinnati Law College, and graduated there in the spring of 1868, since which time he has practiced his profession at New Lexington. Major Free is a Republican in politics, and has generally taken an active part in political affairs, but always declined office. Mr. Free was married April 1, 1858, to Miss Catharine Frantz, daughter of Solomon Frantz, of the neighborhood of New Lexington. His first wife died April 14, 1865, and he was again married, February 2, 1866, to Miss Martha Moore, daughter of Andrew Moore, then of Hocking county, now of Perry. His second wife died in 1873, and in 1876, he was married to Mrs. Laura E. Watkins, of Washington, C. H., Ohio. He is the father of four children, two being dead. FUCHS, N., butcher, New Straitsville. He was born October 25, 1828, in Venningen Rheinbegern, Germany; is a son of Jacob and Mary (Valinger) Fuchs, natives of the same place. He came to America in 1853, and settled in Cincinnati, where he followed the trade of a barber. Ten years after, he returned to Germany and married Clementine Englert. Mr. Fuchs remained in Germany several years, keeping hotel. Two sons, Charles and Euguene, were born there. In 1868 he returned to America, and located in Lancaster, Fairfield county, where he remained until 1872, keeping a grocery. Here his son, Frank, was born. Mr. Fuchs next moved to New Straitsville. where he kept a general assortment of goods, three or four years, since which time he has been carrying on a good business as a butcher. Four children were born here, viz.: Christ, August, Lee and Anna. FULLERTON, WILLIAM, merchant and postmaster, Mount Perry. He was born June 9, 1845, in Hopewell township, this county; is a son of John and Matilda (Crawford) Fullerton. He was brought up on a farm, where he resided until 1878, when he came to Mount Perry and established his present business. He carries a general stock of dry goods, groceries, and such articles as are needed in stores in small towns, and has an excellent trade. He was married March 13, 1877. to Amanda, daughter of Henry and Sarah Jones. They have two children, Martin P., and Annie May. FUNDERBURG, NOAH, farmer, post office, Somerset; born 1827; is a son of Jacob Funderburg and his wife, who was Priscella Henthorn, grandson of Noah Funderburg, who, with his wife, emigrated from Germany to Frederick county, Maryland, where Jacob was born in 1785, and who, with father, mother, one brother, and six sisters, came to Perry county, in a six-horse and one-horse wagon. He bought a half section of land near Somerset, and soon found half of it was only a tax title, and the other half no better. He must thus have lost nearly $1,500, and he gathered up his effects, and with money still left, bought one hundred and sixty acres in section three, Thorn township, where he lived and died a few years afterwards. His widow died at the house of one of her daughters, in Jackson township, some years later, at the age of ninety. Jacob became the owner of the Thorn township farm, on which he lived to the date of his death, in 1878, and in his eighty-fifth year. Noah is of English-Welsh extraction on the maternal side, and412
thus his mother tongue is English. October, 1851, he was married to Miss Phebe Skinner, daughter of William, who came to Perry county in 1808, and whose first wife and her infant were drowned in Kent's Run while returning on horseback from Zanesville. Her maiden name was Sarah Jones, and her only surviving child became the second wife of Judge George Kishler, of Perry. Mr. and Mrs. Funderburg own and reside where she was born, and in the same brick house erected by her father, about 1820, and which preserves all its fine appearance, without any sign of decay, after sixty odd years of exposure. This farm, with additions, now comprises one hundred and seventy-five acres. Like all good farmers, his land grows better and not poorer. He prefers wheat to wool-growing, and has for five years averaged $125 per acre from a vineyard lot. His first tax was fifty-four cents, and has since risen to as many dollars, The care of her afflicted mother, the second wife of her father, William Skinner, who was, prior to her marriage, Miss Mary Oatley, fell upon Mrs. Funderburg, and to this task, of some years duration, was added the care, also, of her husband's uncle. "Sammy" Funderburg, who suffered from his seventh year a mental disease, caused by scarletina,so that he was placed under guardianship, which office was kindly and faithfully performed by Mr. and Mrs. Funderburg, who, like her ancestors, is an O. S. Baptist, and like them. also, distinguished for her kindness and hospitality. Their children are: Mary E., George C., Laura C., Minerva B., William T., Jacob R., Rachel C., John H., and Noah E.
413